Major League Soccer Coming to a Town Near You

Eleven years ago, Major League Soccer started with eight franchises and had to convince and petition municipalities to get the teams up and running. It wasn't easy because no one wanted to be home to another failed experiment in American professional soccer.

The success of Don Garber and Major League Soccer is incredibly apparent as the league has grown from eight teams to fourteen, if you count the confirmed re-expansion into San Jose. For soccer fans, the best news is that the league isn't done growing. The league could double from its original size before 2009 with other American cities competing to earn the rights to host an MLS team.

The most recent contender is Philadelphia, which with the support of Pennsylvania Gov. Ed Rendell, would spend $150 Million to establish a franchise and stadium in the town of Chester. According to an article on ESPN Soccernet, Philadelphia is currently in the running to be one of two new expansion franchises to be announced by league officials.

Earlier this year, the MLS announced that it would be returning to the Bay Area after the San Jose Earthquakes moved to Houston to become the Dynamo. The California expansion team will claim the name of the previous San Jose team and is owned by Lew Wolff, the owner of the Oakland A's. The addition of the San Jose Earthquakes will help balance out the league, which currently has seven teams in the Eastern Conference and six in the Western Conference.

Other recent news from the league puts a possible expansion team near St. Louis in Collinsville, IL. Accorinding the MLS article, the proposed team would build an 18,500 seat soccer stadium in Collinsville and join the league in time for the 2009 season. No decision will be reached about the plan to build the $100 Million stadium until the Collinsville City Council meets on Sept. 10, but another St. Louis-Chicago rivarly in the spirit of Cubs-Cards certainly couldn't hurt.

Other cities and ownership groups have also announced their interest in Major League Soccer. Possible cities including: Seattle, Milwaukee, Montreal, and Vancouver. Rumors have circulated that the current Liverpool owner, George Gillette, who also owns the Montreal Canadiens of the NHL, is interested in placing a second MLS team in Canada. A whole host of other possible expansion markets have been suggested such as: a second New York City team, New Orleans, Cleveland, and Tampa Bay just to name a few.

There are two major catches involved with adding a team to the MLS. Catch number one, the league plans on growing slowly or at least slower than the NASL did. Rapid growth has proven harmful to the sport before, so Don Garber has been keen on keeping a progressive growth rate. Also, slow growth is necessary because the American talent pool isn't as deep as it needs to be for a larger top tier league. Each year the depth clearly increases, but pulling players out of the USL-1 and USL-2 to try put together a winning starting eleven is likely to fail, so the MLS must be cautious about how quickly it expands.

The other catch is this, FIFA has an 18 teams per league policy. The 18 Teams Rule was passed only a few years ago, and Don Garber seems like the type of person to follow most of FIFA's directives. This 18 teams policy is the reason why the MLS's growth must be slow and may eventually stop altogether.

Even with the 18 Teams Rule, it is unlikely that the MLS will grow beyond 20 teams, the number of teams in the English Premier League. For pragmatic and scheduling reasons, 20 teams seems to work best with a 38 week schedule, which would extend an already long and hot American soccer season.

The increased interest in professional soccer may however force Garber's hand, but it is unlikely that all the teams would end up in the MLS. Eventually, if interest remains high, the USL and MLS may need to reach an agreement, which would allow for promotion and relegation just as in the rest of the world. Although many Americans may not understand the promotion/relegation system and may dislike it at first (especially if their expansion team automatically started in the lower league), promotion and relegation makes each game count for something. In the end, it makes the season more entertaining.

For now, only time will tell, but the growth of the MLS looks as though it will continue for the next two seasons or so. Soccer fans in American cities should keep their eyes on the headlines and wait for expansion news to come their way.